Catastrophic mass movement of 1998 monsoons at Malpa in Kali Valley, Kumaun Himalaya (India)

A devastating landslide on 18 August 1998 near Malpa Village in Kali Valley of Higher Kumaun Himalaya killed 221 persons. The landslide was a complex rock fall–debris flow. The mass movement generated around one million cubic metres of debris and partially blocked the Kali River, Malpa Gad (a tributary of Kali) being blocked completely. The rock mass failed primarily due to the near vertical slopes hanging over the valley along joints, the formation of structural wedges along the free face, the sheared rock mass due to the close proximity of major tectonic planes, and the enhanced pore–water pressure due to prolonged heavy precipitation in the preceding days. The mesoscopic shear zone, exhibiting ramp and flat structure in quartzites, shows a southward thrust movement that might have generated shear stress in the rocks. The slide clearly demonstrates the distressed state of the rock mass in the Himalayan region due to the ongoing northward drift of the Indian plate.